Publication
Risk perception and interpersonal discussion on risk: A systematic literature review
In this article, Sara Perlstein aims to provide a coherent foundation for empirical studies of interpersonal discussion on risk, because this is rarely given consideration in previous studies.
- Author
- Sara Perlstein
- Date
- 08 December 2023
- Links
- Read the full article here
Risk perception research has long been attentive to the fact that risk is a social construction. Nevertheless, this fact has not been integrated into empirical research in any systematic manner. Empirical studies that do focus on the social construction of risk often do so from very different positions and with different objectives in mind. Interpersonal discussion, while considered an important medium of social construction, is rarely given consideration. With this systematic literature review, Sara Perlstein aims to provide a coherent foundation for empirical studies of interpersonal discussion on risk. Specifically, her article summarizes existing research into the reciprocal relationship between interpersonal discussion on risk and individual-level risk perception.
This review aims to address the following research question: What is known from an empirical perspective about the relationship between interpersonal discussion on risk and individual-level risk perception?
Three overarching theoretical branches explaining the association between interpersonal discussion on risk and risk perception were found: (1) interpersonal discussion on risk as a process of information sharing, (2) interpersonal discussion on risk as a product and discussion of shared social schemata, and (3) the spread of risk attitudes as an unintentional byproduct of social interactions (social contagion).